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How to watch the Grand National 2026 live from anywhere in the world

Don’t miss one of the biggest days in racing!
Georgia Guerin Georgia Guerin

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    • Watch the Grand National this Saturday (11 April 2026) and join the massive global audience to enjoy this major event in the racing calendar.

    The Grand National has been running officially since 1839 and this year there are 34 Grand National runners and riders gearing up for their chance to write their names in the history books. You can download our Grand National sweepstake kit to add another element of excitement to your day.

    At a glance

    How to watch the Grand National on TV

    ITV will screen most of the action live and for free on ITV1 and ITVX, while Racing TV (Sky channel 424/Virgin Media 536) will broadcast via its subscription-based service.

    You don’t need an ITVX subscription to watch live racing – just an email address and a valid TV license. You can register for a free account or download the app to your mobile device.

    If you’re away from home, you can use NordVPN to unlock your ITVX stream of the Grand National action from anywhere in the world.

    Free ITV coverage

    ITV Racing will broadcast live from Aintree racecourse on 11 April from 12:45–5pm. You can watch on TV or online via ITVX.

    Five of the seven races, including the Grand National, will be broadcast live on ITV1 (and can be streamed on ITVX). The first (12:45pm) and final race (5pm) of the day will not be available on ITV.

    Whos presenting ITV Racing Grand National coverage?

    The ITV racing coverage will, once again, be hosted by Ed Chamberlin, who has been the ITV Racing presenter since 2017. Richard Hoiles will be the lead commentator and will be supported by Mark Johnson and Stewart Machin.

    Analysis will be provided by Sir AP McCoy, Mick Fitzgerald and Rachael Blackmore. Alice Plunkett will be reporting from the course, Brian Gleeson on betting, Matt Chapman in the paddock and Luke Harvey at the start. Sam Quek will also be on your screens as part of the team.

    Oli Bell will be presenting The Opening Show.

    What time is the Grand National?

    The Grand National will start at 4pm on Saturday 11 April 2026. The first race of the day is 12:45pm.

    Full Grand National day race schedule

    • 12:45pm | The Hallgarten and Novum Wines Maghull Novices’ Steeple Chase
    • 1.20pm | The William Hill Handicap Hurdle Race
    • 1.55pm | The Turners Mersey Novices’ Hurdle Race
    • 2.30pm | The William Hill Handicap Steeple Chase
    • 3.05pm | The Jet2 Liverpool Hurdle Race
    • 4pm | The Randox Grand National Handicap Steeple Chase
    • 5pm | The Weatherbys nhstallions.co.uk Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race

    How to watch first and last race of the day

    ITV will not broadcast the first or final races on Grand National Day, so you’ll need to switch over to Racing TV for this coverage.

    How to watch the Grand National from anywhere

    If you’re away from home and your normal ITVX coverage is geo-blocked, a VPN will get you your usual coverage from anywhere in the world.

    There are many VPN providers out there, with some more reliable and safe than others. We’d suggest using a paid-for service such as NordVPN, where you can get an exclusive 75% off, which offers a 100% risk-free money back guarantee. If you’re not happy with the service any time within the first 30-days, then you can cancel with no penalties at all.

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    What distance is the Grand National?

    The Grand National is 4m 2½ furlongs, which equates to 6.94km.

    How long does the Grand National last?

    This is really dependent on the raceday conditions, but you can expect it to be complete in around 10–12 minutes. The average winning time is 9min 10sec, but there have been variations of the course and fence heights over the years.

    The fastest time ever was 8min 47.8sec recorded by Mr Frisk in 1990, while the slowest time was the first ever running of the race in 1839, when Lottery took 14min 53sec to be the first across the line.

    How many fences are in the Grand National?

    The Grand National requires horses to jump a total of 30 fences over two laps of the Aintree course. There are 16 individual fences, but only only 14 are jumped on the second circuit – The Chair (15) and The Water Jump (16) are omitted.

    A diagram of the Grand National course including the names, number and sizes of each of the fences.

    The Grand National course at Aintree racecourse.

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    We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:

    1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service)
    2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad

    We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing. 

    Georgia Guerin
    Georgia Guerin

    H&H’s head of e-commerce
    Georgia is Horse & Hound’s equestrian products expert and our favourite shopping guru as she knows about all the latest products, often before they hit the shelves. She is here to help you make the right purchases, whatever your budget, and manages all the ecommerce opportunities that allow us to give you easy access to the best products at the lowest prices. Georgia has first-hand knowledge of all the equestrian brands and their ever-evolving product lines, having been working with them closely since she started in equestrian media in 2015. She is also editor of H&H’s sister site, PetsRadar.
    Georgia Guerin

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